This invention relates to the heating of handlebar grips and the method of manufacturing such heaters. Most heated grips have the heaters incorporated into the grip or the heating element is adhered to the handlebar under the grip. Because of the numerous manufacturers of vehicles with handlebars and the numerous types and styles of grips used on these handlebars it is very difficult to supply heated grips that can be installed and utilized on this wide variety of machines. Because of this wide variety, the heated grips and heaters that are supplied for the grips have various advantages and disadvantages from ease of installation, reliability, heating capacity, esthetics, safety, or cost.
In the operation of vehicles or equipment with handlebars where the operators are exposed to lower temperatures and wind chill, because of the moving cold air, the operator's hands typically get cold first. The cold handlebars and grips also transfer heat away from the hands and combined with the cold air can make it very uncomfortable and even create a hazardous condition. Many heated grips have been utilized to address the problems related to keeping the hands warm and this heated grip technology is well known. However, improvements are required to make them easier to install, easier to replace, more universal, easier to manufacture, more economical and add safety for the operators.
There are many patents related to this prior art in the heated grip area. These patents cover many aspects of heated grips from the position for mounting the heaters, the assembly of the heaters into the grips, the method of manufacturing the heated grips, the electronic controls that are used with the heated grips, and even methods of locking the heated grips to the handlebars. There is only one patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,667,315, that references placing the grip heater on the inside of the handlebar and that design utilizes a cartridge style of heater. This design is simple but not desirable because the rigid cartridge diameter has to be smaller than the inside diameter of the handlebar and when inserted only allows for a line of contact to transfer the heat to the handlebar. This results in one side of the handlebar being hot and the other side quite cold along with areas of the hands.
There are heated grip patents that are written specifically for vehicles such as motorcycles like U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,613,407, 5,735,037, and 6,984,807. These heated grip designs do define the use with motorcycles but one can readily recognize the utility with other vehicles. A number of patents reference special electronic controls for the heated grips like U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,844,524 and 6,927,367, however this technology is well known and can be utilized with most heater controls other than these for the handlebar grips.